Goldman Sachs will be the headliner on Wednesday when it reports its quarterly results ahead of the opening bell.

The financial titan reports its quarterly results at 8 a.m. ET and will likely knock the ball out of the park as Lloyd Blankfein & Co. rarely disappoint. One area of concern is fixed income trading, which could come in on the lower end of the range, similar to what was seen with Citigroup.

On the flip side, the IPO calendar was very active at the end of the year and Goldman was a part of most deals, so there should be some nice news from the equity underwriting department. Expect some restraint on employee compensation. Goldman's faithful still enjoy sweet bonuses but it's doubtful we'll see a crazy number on that line item.

A topic of conversation on the conference call could be the Facebook fiasco the company is currently dealing with following reports it's only offering shares in the private social network to its international clients. How many customers do you think called Goldman to ask how they could be listed as an international client? Can I open an account and list the Cabo house as the address?

On the serious side of things, one key thing to listen for may be some color on the municipal bond story -- just how bad is it?

Beyond Goldman, there's a full slate of bank earnings on the way. Wells Fargo ( WFC), one of the big four, is set to disclose its numbers, along with State Street ( STT), U.S. Bancorp ( USB), PacWest Bancorp ( PACW), Northwest Bancshares ( NWBI), and Hudson City Bancorp ( HCBK) all report their quarterly results on Wednesday.

All eyes will be zeroed in on loan losses: Are they up or down? How much are the Fannie Mae putbacks affecting the banks? What is going on with fees? There is a great deal of focus on the regional banks as they are seen as takeover candidates. Many are well run and have stable balance sheets making them ideal entities to buy. Focus on slow loan growth and the response to the changing regulatory environment.